24. okt. 2002

Pretentious?...moi?

Americans and Italians share the same talent for performing. The main difference between the two lies in their relation to truth. The Italian drama is honest in its obviousness. Drama for its own sake. Pretension is just another form of social behavior. The American, on the other hand, is less obvious. You can never really tell if an American is pretending or not. He is excused, because very often he doesn't know himself. The English language allows it's users to remain unconscious about pretension: Unlike most other European languages, English doesn't make a clear distinction between actual doing and showing off. "To act" means to take action and to engage in theatrical activity at the same time. The same quality can be found in the verb "to perform".

But we Europeans know that everlasting optimism doesn't exist ...right?